Turn on (satnav), tune in, drop out (brain)

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A siren voice crashed a lot of motorists into a lot of rocks, piles of sand, and lavatory huts in 2006, as drivers followed bad satnav directions with spectacularly bad results. “I just thought the navigation system knew a shortcut,” said Volker Heinemann, who ignored a “Closed for construction” sign and plowed into construction materials at high velocity. Then, of course, there was “Viscount Oliver’s Legendary Four Tops” missing their own sold-out concert by keying in Chelmsford instead of Cheltenham. Joachim Siedler of Blaupunkt said, “People who drive into rivers and then blame their satnav are just too humiliated to accept blame themselves.” A German who plowed off a pier on Christmas Day might disagree: he said the satnav made what was actually a ferry crossing, look like a bridge. [GT]